When comparing Mail and Calendar vs Microsoft Outlook, the Slant community recommends Mail and Calendar for most people. In the question“What are the best e-mail clients for Windows?”Mail and Calendar is ranked 3rd while Microsoft Outlook is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Mail and Calendar is:

Mail and Calendar support multiple accounts from multiple services, including Gmail and Google Apps. Gmail and Google Apps support was not available on Windows 8. It is available on the Windows 10 version of Mail and Calendar app.

Pros

Pro

Supports multiple services including GMail

Mail and Calendar support multiple accounts from multiple services, including Gmail and Google Apps. Gmail and Google Apps support was not available on Windows 8. It is available on the Windows 10 version of Mail and Calendar app.

Pro

Send email from Outlook.com aliases

An alias is a great feature for keeping your email private

Pro

Drag and drop calendar events to reschedule them (PC only)

If you like using a calendar, this is an efficiency perk.

Pro

Swipe functionality

If your device has a touchscreen, then user can swipe the message thread either from left or from right, varies by swipe preferences set by user, eg: set swipe from right to delete and swipe from left to archive.

Pro

Background wallpaper

Similar to Yahoo! Mail and Gmail web app, Mail app can allow users to set any images as image background of the app.

Pro

Good built-in calendar

The calendar includes agenda, day and three-day views.

Pro

Quick swipe features

Microsoft Outlook comes with quick swipe features where users can quickly swipe the thread either from left (to schedule) or right (to delete or archive). Additionally, users can also customize the swipe actions to, for example, set swipe from left to archive or swipe from right to delete.

Pro

Excellent notifications center calendar widget

Pro

Good built-in contacts

In addition to showing contact information, the People section of Outlook can show all conversations you've had with a person. Moreover, if you're looking for someone that's not in your contact's list, but is in your company's or school's directory, Outlook can pull that information through integration with Global Address List (GAL).

Pro

Helps prioritize email

The app will automatically attempt to figure out which emails are important to you and surface those. The priority emails will show up in your inbox in a tab called Focused, with other emails in a tab called Other. It aims to separate spam and promotional emails from the important emails.

Pro

Integrates with Microsoft services

Pro

Integrates with cloud storage services

Microsoft Outlook comes with built-in cloud storage browser allowing you to attach files directly from services such as Dropbox, Box, Google Drive or OneDrive to emails and directly open attached files without the need for the main cloud storage app.

Cons

Con

Missing some advanced features

The Mail app is missing some advanced features that can be found in other products such as automatic template replies, email filters and custom notification sounds.

Con

No custom signature with HTML or images

You will miss the option to customize the signature with HTML content and images.

Con

Freezes

GUI sometimes freezes for 10-30 seconds.

Con

No aliases

The Mail app doesn't support email aliases.

Con

Doesn't follow security guidelines

The app stores user information and credentials on outside servers which is a violation of ActiveSync password requirement policies. These security concerns have been enough of an issue that European Parliament has banned its members from using the app out of fear that it might lead to leaking sensitive information.